Papers by Keyword: Crystalline SiO₂

Abstract: Rice husk is the covering of rice seeds and a by-product of milling rice grain. This study is conducted to investigate the production of silica (SiO₂) formed from waste rice hull (RH) at different processing temperatures and study its structure, morphology, and thermal properties. Thermal analysis by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of the dried RH showed two mass-loss steps associated to the moisture desorption and thermal decomposition. Powder X-ray diffraction patterns of the rice hull calcined at 550 ^oC showed a purely amorphous SiO₂ structure while those calcined for 900 ^oC for 1 hour and for 3 hours showed a glass-ceramics and crystalline SiO₂ structure, respectively. This structural result is supported by the results obtained from the FTIR and Raman analyses of the samples. On the other hand, the Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed the morphology of the samples revealing an increasing particle and grain size of the samples calcined at higher temperatures and longer heat treatment duration. In addition, Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectra of both amorphous and crystalline SiO₂ samples confirm that the sample contains mostly silicon and oxygen. Thus, in this study, the desired form of either amorphous or crystalline SiO₂ from waste rice hull can be successfully obtained by controlled heat treatment.

Abstract: Normal thermal conductivity of amorphous and crystalline SiO₂ nano-films is calculated by nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations in the temperature range from 100 to 700K and thicknesses from 2 to 6nm. The calculated temperature and thickness dependences of thermal conductivity are in good agreement with previous literatures. In the same thickness, higher thermal conductivity is obtained for crystalline SiO₂ nano-films. And more importantly, for amorphous SiO₂ nano-films, thickness can be any direction of x, y, z-axis without effect on the normal thermal conductivity, for crystalline SiO₂ nano-films, the different thickness directions obtain different thermal conductivity results. The different results of amorphous and crystalline SiO₂ nano-films simply show that film thickness and grain morphology will cause different effects on thermal conductivity.